New Super Mario Bros U Review

Even after thirty years of Mario titles spanning every platform from arcade machines to the Nintendo 3DS and branching into half a dozen genres, it would be difficult to claim that the franchise is getting old. New Super Mario Bros U is constructed around a formula that may prove to be truly timeless, but it also exploits enough fresh ideas to feel like a new experience even to seasoned players. The game is a meticulously balanced blend of old concepts not seen in decades and new features that integrate the motion controls native to the Wii U, all rolled into a beautifully designed classic style.

The basic premise of nearly every Mario game makes a return in New Super Mario Bros U. The infamous bad guy, Bowser, and his gang of Koopalings kidnap Princess Peach and hold her captive until our favorite plumber can come to her rescue. Though this one does something a little different: instead of carrying Peach away, Bowser instead takes over her kingdom and locks her in the tower of her own castle. After being thrown all the way across the kingdom, Mario begins his long journey through different worlds infested with Bowser’s turtle-ish minions to battle the King Koopa and free the princess. And, unlike in New Super Mario Bros 2 for the 3DS, there will be no shortage of challenge in this adventure.

In acknowledgment of the franchise’s origins in the days before game saving was a standard feature, this title limits the player’s ability to save progress to certain checkpoints. This requires the player to be careful with their lives or lose all progress since the last permanent save. Quick saves are also possible at any location, but these only allow you to resume at that level one time. Repeated deaths on a level will spawn a green help box, which starts a tutorial of sorts with Luigi showing off a perfect run through of the course. At any time, the player can exit the video and take control of Luigi, continuing the course from that exact position. Finishing the course this way will give the option of retrying it or counting it as cleared and allowing the player to move on. The helpfulness of the video is negligible (especially with the ease of finding a video walkthrough online) and at times can be somewhat annoying, but it does present an option for anyone who just cannot make it past a course. Making it through the final castle in New Super Mario Bros U may not be nearly the accomplishment it was in the NES days, but it is at least more satisfying than other recent installments in the series.

The game also features a wider variety of enemies and powerups, including Ice and Fire Flowers and the new Super Acorn that turns Mario into a flying squirrel, and brings back a fan-favorite gameplay element that has been absent for many, many years: Baby Yoshis. These droopy-looking little guys can help Mario in an assortment of strange ways, such as trapping enemies in bubbles, carrying Mario from a balloon, or even acting as a flashlight. Though holding on to them all the time can be tedious (typical babies), they can make travelling through a difficult level much easier and more entertaining.

The courses in New Super Mario Bros U offer a bit more variety than the strictly linear style of most of its brethren. Though the classic lineup of worlds is still there – grassy hills, desert, water, ice, jungle, clouds, etc. – it is up to Mario which challenges he wants to tackle. Players will quickly come to a fork in the path where they may choose which world to enter and play through. Slipping across floating blocks of ice and swimming through treacherous watery caverns start to feel equally daunting when you’re forced to choose between them. This can be quite a blessing for those who have a fear of water levels. If nothing else, being able to choose what path to follow adds a little more excitement to the otherwise bland progression through the game. There are also plenty of world-skipping shortcuts, which may be convenient for finishing the game, but cut out a lot of the actual entertainment value. It simply isn’t the same to go back and play skipped worlds after you have beaten the game, as much of the challenge is now removed by the ability to permanently save progress at any point. The ease of using world-skips is a bit disappointing; I skipped three entire worlds (nearly half the game) on my first playthrough completely by accident, and was left feeling a bit unsatisfied with the experience.

To help bring the classic Mario style into the modern era, New Super Mario Bros U contains a few new game mechanics to better utilize the Wii U’s motion controls. The entire story mode can be played with either a Wii Remote or the new GamePad controller. In certain areas, the player will have to control moving platforms by tilting the controller and control Mario using the D-pad and buttons simultaneously. This takes a bit of practice, but is certainly a worthwhile addition to the game’s time-honored formula. As promised in the initial demo of the Wii U at E3 2011, the GamePad can load and play the whole game (in single player mode) without need of the TV screen, which makes it a convenient pick-up-and-play title for those who don’t like to be tied to their living room flatscreen (as long as they also don’t get too far away from it) .

In addition to the main story, there are three additional freestyle gametypes that players can enjoy. Challenge mode, as the name would suggest, is an expansive assortment of special levels that must be completed within very specific guidelines. Examples include limiting the number of coins that can be collected, running through the whole map using triple jumps, or gliding all the way to the finish without touching the ground (in flying squirrel form, of course). Coin Battle is a strictly multiplayer mode in which up to five players compete individually or on teams to collect the most coins. This mode includes every level from the story, plus a few exclusives. It also allows a player using the GamePad to customize coin locations on a course for those using Wii Remotes to collect. In Boost Rush, the player collects coins to accelerate the pace of the level. Though slightly dull compared to the others, Boost Rush can be a fun challenge for those who enjoy courses where they have to keep moving or die. All three of these gametypes can be played as Mario, Luigi, Yellow or Blue Toads, or a Mii character.

Despite the hurdles inherent in developing a launch title for brand new hardware, New Super Mario Bros U gives the impression of a project that received a lot of polish before being shipped out. The new and old gameplay mechanics are integrated very smoothly to provide an experience that feels fresh even after a thirty year run for the franchise. The Wii U’s graphical capabilities, motion controls, and Miiverse integration offer a reinvigorated gaming experience with a strong community, without needing to stray too far from a tried and true formula.